As parts of the US federal government reopened on Jan. 28 following a 35-day shutdown by President Donald J. Trump, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) and Bagwell Energy Services (BES) CEO Rodger Bagwell announced that the oil field equipment manufacturer will spend $2.5 million and create 150 new jobs in the next 5 years at its Port of Delcambre fabrication center in Iberia Parish.
BES’s $2.5-million investment will add precision fabrication equipment for process industry piping and vessels, install new bridge cranes, and build a 15,000-sq-ft addition to its fabrication center and a 4,000-sq-ft addition to its painting-and-blasting facility.
The project will retain 46 existing jobs while creating 150 new positions with an average $74,000/year salary, plus benefits, the governor’s office said. In addition, Louisiana Economic Development (LED) estimates that the project will result in 240 new indirect jobs, for a total of 390 new jobs in Acadiana and surrounding regions.
“As we see positive signs of recovery for Louisiana’s offshore exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico, and reinvigoration of Haynesville shale activity in North Louisiana, this expansion by [BES] emphasizes the great leadership, ingenuity, and talent possessed by our native oil field and industrial services companies,” Edwards said.
“We’re excited for Delcambre and for Iberia and Vermilion parishes that this expansion will bring more high-quality jobs to our coastal oil and gas industry and more support for our growing onshore industrial projects,” Edwards said.
The company’s roots go back nearly 40 years, when BES built its fabrication business at a Louisiana Highway 14 location, then expanded in the mid-1990s as a Port of Delcambre tenant with new manufacturing space and a slip terminal on the Delcambre Canal near Vermilion Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where much of BES’s work supported offshore oil and gas production.
Diversification plans
After selling its assets to the Shaw Group in 1995, original owners Coleman and Bagwell led a buyout of the Port of Delcambre operations from Shaw Group successor McDermott in 2018. BES will diversify now into chemical industry and LNG projects, as it also provides project support offshore and onshore in Texas, Louisiana, and upper Midwest states.
LED began working with BES on a potential expansion project in August 2018. To secure the project, the state offered the company a competitive incentive package, including a $250,000 performance-based economic development award to offset infrastructure improvement costs.
“We are excited to be back at home in the Twin Parish Port,” said Bagwell. “Through a diversified customer base and years of experience in this industry, we look forward to many years of growth here.”